2. 外语
  3. Read the following passage. The United States currently has high-speed railway lines on the East Coast of the country. The E

Read the following passage. The United States currently has high-speed railway lines on the East Coast of the country. The E

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问题     Read the following passage.
    The United States currently has high-speed railway lines on the East Coast of the country. The East Coast high-speed trains have been very successful, and some experts believe that a similar highspeed rail system to connect the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles in the state of California on the West Coast would have many benefits as well.
    First, maintaining roads is expensive, and because of budget constraints, the state of California has had great difficulty in ensuring that the repairs needed to keep the roads in top condition are made. Advocates of the high-speed rail proposal point out that when people who would have driven to their destination take the train instead, there will be less damage to the roads. The amount of maintenance needed on roads will therefore decrease.
    In addition, traffic congestion on one of the major roads between San Francisco and Los Angeles is already at record levels, and transportation experts predict that it will double over the next 25 years. Clearly, this problem must be addressed. In some areas of the East Coast where traffic congestion has been a problem, high-speed trains have helped relieve the congestion, and they have become the most popular way to travel between some East Coast cities. A high-speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles could become just popular and could play a major role in helping lower traffic congestion.
    Finally, high-speed trains are one of the most environmentally friendly forms of transportation. Trains running at a high rate of speed are very fuel-efficient, about five times more fuel-efficient than cars and twice as efficient as regular trains. A high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles could eliminate many billions of pounds of harmful fuel emissions produced by car engines and regular trains every year.
    Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.
    Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they challenge the specific theories presented in the reading passage.
The reading makes high-speed rail seem like a great choice for California, but it’s not! The benefits would be much less substantial than the reading suggests.
    First, it’s true that the state of California would save some money on road maintenance, but you have to compare that to the money California would have to spend on building the high-speed rail. To build the new system, the state of California might have to borrow 100 billion dollars, which is equal to 75% of all the tax income the state collects in one year. Imagine if you had to borrow an amount that’s three quarters of your yearly income. It would be pretty hard to pay back the loan. California would put itself in a similarly difficult financial situation even if it saved some money on road maintenance.
    Second, trains only reduce traffic congestion on the roads if people find taking the train more convenient than driving, but this largely depends on how convenient it is for people to access the train stations. In the East Coast cities, people can get to the rail stations easily thanks to extensive public transportation systems, but convenient public transportation is often lacking in the urban areas on the West Coast. If Californians cannot reach the stations easily, many will probably keep driving their cars instead of taking the train and the roads will stay congested.
    Third, the environmental benefits: the problem is that a new high-speed track would be built for some of the route, but not for the whole route. To make the best use of available resources, the California high-speed trains would travel on already existing regular tracks for some parts of the route, but since the regular tracks don’t allow for high-speed travel, the high-speed trains will have to slow down for parts of the route. That slowing down will make the new trains much less fuel-efficient and fuel emissions will not be reduced as much as the reading claims.
选项
答案 The reading passage presented three theoretical advantages of building a high-speed rail system to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the lecturer suggests these benefits would not be as substantial as predicted. First, the reading passage proposes that building a high-speed rail will help relieve the financial burden of the government, as people would choose the rail over roads, and therefore reducing the spending on road maintenance. But the lecturer points out that building the rail system itself poses great financial difficulty, as the state government would have to take out a loan of 100 billion dollars, which amounts to 75% of the state’s annual tax revenue. Second, the reading passage contends that a high-speed rail system can help alleviate the record-setting traffic congestion in inter-city highways. But this hypothesis has one important premise: traveling by train is more convenient than by car. Considering the lack of convenient public transport in cities on the West Coast, travelers will find it difficult to reach railway stations and turn back to driving. Finally, the reading passage points to the environmental benefits of a high-speed rail system: high-speed trains are more fuel-efficient than regular trains and cars. Yet to make full use of the existing railways, high-speed trains will travel on regular tracks in some parts of the route, where they need to slow down. When a high-speed train slows down to a regular speed, it will be less fuel-efficient than expected.
解析     题目：高中学生应该通过听老师讲课、记笔记来学习，还是应该通过在课堂互相交流、分享想法来学习?你更偏向于哪种方式?为什么?
    本题是“二选一”类型的题目。与个人的偏好(preference)有关，因此，没有统一答案，考生可以灵活作答。无论选择哪个选项，这种比较类型的题目都可以将对比贯穿全文，从正反两方面来论述。范文偏向“听老师讲课和记笔记”这一学习方式。在每个理由的组织上，都将听课的益处和交流的弊端结合起来，使文章富有层次感。
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